Punch press systems are typically employed by structural steel fabricators which receive structural beams from mills and which fabricate the finished beams by cutting the beams to finished lengths and punching the necessary holes in the beams.
A commercially successful structural beam punch press system is marketed in the United States of American by Peddinghaus Corporation, 300 North Washington Avenue, Bradley, Ill. 60915 U.S.A. under the trade name "Beamline" as part of the structural steel fabrication lien sold under the trade name "Fabriline." This prior art system is described on pages 10 and 11 of the catalog entitled "Peddinghaus PEDDIMAT Structural Fabrications Systems for Economical Structural Steel Fabrication" published by Peddinghaus Corporation and bearing, on the last page, the designation "683 GC5M."
Another punch press system, which incorporates a number of novel features and provides a number of operational advantages, has been recently developed by Peddinghaus Corporation. It is illustrated in a greatly simplified manner in FIG. 1 and is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,804. This recently developed punch press assembly, as well as other punch press assemblies, are typically operated substantially automatically. Structural beams are usually conveyed or indexed through the assembly of punch presses which punch holes in the beams. The beams that are processed in this manner have a central web, which is usually oriented generally horizontally in the punch press assembly, and two parallel flanges --one flange at each end of the web. The flanges are generally perpendicular to the web and are oriented generally vertically in the punch press assembly.
Such beams are typically designated as "I" beams, wide flange beams, light beams, and American Standard beams. When such beams are erected in structures, the ends of the beams and/or other portions of the beams are typically connected together with bolts. The bolts are received in holes provide din the webs and flanges of the beams.
The beam punch press system assemblies typically include a number of punch presses for punching the bolt holes in the beams. "Web" punch presses are used to provide hole sin the beam web, and "flange" punch presses are used to provide holes in the beam flanges. The punch presses typically include, among other things, a punch, a coacting die against which the punch forces the beam flange or web, and a punch actuator. Conventional designs for such components are well-known to those skilled in the art. Various designs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,631,996, 3,722,337, and 3,720,125.
In the punch press assembly illustrated in FIG. 1, a beam 20 is conveyed in a generally horizontal orientation and has a horizontal web 22, a front flange 24, and a rear flange 26. The beam 20 is moved lengthwise into position toward, through, and beyond the punch press assembly by suitable special or conventional beam conveying means (not illustrated), such as conveyors or workpiece advancing mechanisms, which are well-known to those skilled in the art. For ease of illustration, such beam conveying means have not been shown in the figures, and the details of such beam conveying means form no part of the present invention.
The punch press assembly shown in FIG. 1 includes four substantially identical punch presses, designated 101, 102, 103, and 104, the design and operation of which are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,804. Briefly, the punch presses are arranged in pairs. The first pair of presses consists of a first press 101 and a second press 102 located to punch the beam front flange 24 from a front side of the beam 20. The first punch press 101 punches the front flange 24 below the web 22, and the second punch press 102 punches the front flange 24 above the web 22.
The second pair of punch presses consists of a first press 103 and a second press 104 which are located to punch the rear flange 26 from the rear side of the beam 20. The first punch press 103 of the second pair punches the rear flange 26 below the web 22, and the second punch press 104 of the second pair punches the rear flange 26 below the web 22.
Typically, at least one conventional web punch 105 is also provided, upstream or downstream of the flange presses 101, 102, 103, and 104, for punching holes in the beam web 22.
When one of the punch presses is operated to punch a hole in the adjacent beam, a disk-like slug of metal is punched out of the beam. The slug falls from, or is ejected from, the punch press. The slug may be ejected with considerable force or may just drop away from the punch press. In any event, the slug is ultimately discharged from the punch press.
In the case of a typical beam flange punch press, such as any of the presses 101, 102, 103, and 104, the die portion of the press extends inwardly beyond the beam flange. The punch and actuator mechanism of the press are mounted to the side of the beam outwardly of the beam flange. The end of the punch per se moves from the outside of the beam centerline. The slug that is produced by this punching operation is thus discharged toward the beam centerline.
For the flange punch presses 102 and 104 that punch holes in the upper parts of the flanges above the beam web, the slugs typically end up falling on top of the beam web and are carried along on the beam web as it passes through the punch press assembly. The slugs carried on the beam can present problems.
For example, the fabrication process may require the beam to be subsequently repositioned to permit another hole to be punched by one of the flange punches (or by the web punch 105). In such a situation, slugs discharged from previously punched holes may lie at locations on the web and/or against a flange that interfere with the subsequent punching operations.
Even if the slugs do not interfere with subsequent punching operations, the slugs are carried with the beam as the beam is transported through other beam processing systems in the fabrication process. The slugs can interfere with such other subsequent processing systems and/or ultimately fall off of the ends of the beam at various locations around the fabricating plant.
The undesirable scattering of slugs around a plant is further aggravated by the fact that the slugs have a generally cylindrical shape. Thus, the slugs tend to roll easily along the beam, as well as along the floors or other equipment on which the slugs may fall.
The punch presses that punch holes in the lower parts of the flanges below the beam web 22, such as the punch presses 101 and 103, necessarily discharge the slugs below the beam 20. The web punch press 105 also is typically oriented with the punch die portion or bolster located below the beam and with the punch located above the beam so that the slug is discharged below the web into the region below the beam 20. Although these slugs do not get carried along on the beam web 22, they can get ejected into, or can roll along or in, the punch press assembly frame components below the beam 20. Some of the slugs can roll along the floor and become lodged in equipment support bases or mounting rails.
Another problem with the slugs produced by the punching process is that a slug may be ejected from a punch press at a relatively high velocity. The slug may have a relatively high rate of speed and be capable of generating a high impact force.
Some of the slugs may weigh up to about 1/3 of a pound. The energy released during the punching process, some of which is converted to the kinetic energy of the ejected slug, can be significant, especially when punching large diameter holes in thick flanges of high strength steel beams. The high kinetic energy of some slugs thus increases the probability that the slugs will be carried a significant distance where they may interfere with other parts of the punch press assembly (or with other equipment), or otherwise be scattered about the area in a way that exacerbates collection and disposal.
In view of the above-described problems, it would be desirable to provide a system for removing slugs form the punch press assembly area.
It would be particularly advantageous to provide means for collecting slugs that might otherwise fall on top of the beam web as well as for collecting slugs that would otherwise be randomly discharged below the beam web.
It would also be beneficial if a system could be provided for efficiently collecting such slugs, especially relatively heavy slugs, in a manner that would require little or no human operator intervention.
It would be advantageous to provide such a collection system with means for effectively operating in a substantially automatic manner to remove slugs as they are produced by the punch presses. Such an improved assembly should accommodate slugs that are relatively heavy and slugs that are ejected at relatively high kinetic energies.
The present invention provides a novel system for preventing problems associated with punch press slug ejection and for efficiently collecting such slugs. The present invention can accommodate designs having the above-discussed benefits and features.